welcome to nhk world "newsline." voters in south korea have made history. public broadcaster kbs is reporting that park has been elected as the first female president. kbs projects she defeated her main rival of the opposition democratic united party. officials with the election commission say park won 51% of the votes.

they say moon took 48%. they have counted about two-thirds of the ballots. park trumpeted her wealth and political experience during the campaign. she squared off with moon on a number of issues during the campaign. south koreans want their next leader to rein in the country's conglomerates. they say they are snatching market is share away from small and medium sized firms. park favors restraints to keep growth in check, but insisted that major companies should enjoy future regulations. on the diplomatic front, park on the diplomatic front, park on the diplomatic front, park on the diplomatic front, park on the diplomatic front, park argued that her country should built a relationship of trust with north korea before opening dialog with the nation. we have our team in south seoul, covering the south korean presidential election.

kaho izumitani has more. kaho, what happened park win this vote? >> reporter: her name, for one thing. she is the late daughter of the architect of the modern economic. park built on her name by portraying herself as a seasoned politician with 15 years of experience as a lawmaker. she used the ruling party's organizational power to her full advantage in promoting her campaign. she focused on the province of shenzen to lock in votes of conservatives and secured the overwhelming support and the support of voters in the 50s and older who wanted stability. at the same time, park distanced herself from outgoing president lee myung bak, also a member of the ruling party. he came under fire over the widening income disparity and corruption involving his relatives and close aides. park even criticized his government during the campaign. >> okay, kahu, we will be back to you in a minute.

we'll be back to you in a few minutes. first, let's learn a little more about park kunei. not just south korea's first female president, also the first child of a former president to win the country's highest office. we take a closer look at her life. >> reporter: park studied engineering in seoul. she is single. >> translator: i'm determined to do my utmost to bring peace and security to this country. >> reporter: the 60-year-old politician is the daughter of for president park chung-hei, who attained power in a coup and spearheaded the industrialization drive

beginning in the 1960s, the younger park became the first lady at 22 after her mother was assassinated in august 1974. at that time, her father was unharmed, but five years later he was assassinated by his closest confidante. park distanced herself from politics for nearly 20 years. her own political career began in 1998, when she won a seat in a parliament aerie election, she became head of the national party in 2004. then the leading opposition party and pledged to regain the trust of voters. she sought her party party's

nomination in 2007, but bak went on to become president. south korea called her south korea's joan of arc because of her knack for claiming victory. she changed the party's name and and acquired fresh candidates. park won a majority in this year's election. >> translator: i hope to benefit from your overwhelming support. >> reporter: now she can add her biggest victory to date to an already long list. nhk world, seoul.

>> we are joined once again by kehu. how did the north korea factor play a part in voters' decision to elect park? >> reporter: it's fair to say the outcome of this election reflects a state of ties on the peninsula. she maintains a conscious stance toward the north and stresses the need to strengthen security before building ties. she will need to be tough after the launch of what many nations consider a missile by the north. >> translator: south korea has not been firm with the north. but i think south korea should keep a strong stance. but park will also need to listen to citizen who's don't like the hardline approach. >> tell us more about park geun-hye as a politician. >> reporter: throughout her career, she tried to be a corruption-free politician. her credo and stance has won her support when many politicians have lost face in politics. park helped survive the senuri

party and analysts consider her an excellent leader who can unite party members. voters have shown they want their next president to do something about the growing income disparity. she stressed during the campaign she would close the gap between rich and poor. south korea's first female president-elect is facing a loft expectation and once election celebrations end, she will need to get down to the business of celebrating her administration. >> thank you very much, kaho izumitani in seoul. share prices in tokyo surged on wednesday. the benchmark index ended above

the 10,000 level for the first time in 8 1/2 months. the nikkei index gained 2.4% oar 237 points and ended the day's session at 10,160. this is on expectations that the bank of japan may take additional monetary easing measures when the liberal democrats leader shinzo abe assumes power in a week. analysts say buy orders placed on a wide range of issues. export-related issues were also bought on hopes that u.s. democrats and republicans may reach an agreement to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. >> translator: i think many people are pinning their hopes on mr. abe to revive the japanese economy, because his party won a landslide victory in the election. >> translator: i'm not sure whether this upbeat trend will continue or it's just temporary. i'm concerned the u.s. fiscal cliff may have a downward effect. >> market players are, for the

time being, are cheering the bold monetary easing measures put guard by the democratic liberal party leader. however, some say measures by the central bank may not be enough to pull japan out of its prolonged deflation. there are also concerns that price hikes without wage increases could dampen consumer spending and that could eventually pull down the country's economy. gee the global campaign to end polio have become targets of deadly violence. patchari raksawong at our bureau in bangkok has details. >> gunmen killed 12 members of the anti-polio campaigns in a string of attacks this week. the world health organization is temporarily suspending vaccination drives across the country. international organizations are condemn the violence and the disruption to efforts to eradicate the disease. on wednesday, a female health worker and her driver were shot

dead in charsadda in northwest pakistan n nearby peshawar, a team member was killed. the it comes after five anti-polio workers were killed in karachi on monday and tues y tuesday. >> translator: i don't know what i should do. my mind isn't functioning. >> in a separate incident, an 18-year-old woman who was supervising a vaccination campaign was shot dead by gunmen in peshawar on tuesday. and in yet another attack, a group of health workers were targeted in a northwestern town on monday and three members of security forces accompanying them were killed. it is not clear who is behind the attacks. the taliban has denounced anti-polio campaigns, calling them a western plot to sterilize muslims. religious leaders have spoken

out to debunk such misconceptions. accusations that immunization campaigns were dpoefrd surprise given creed dense to when it emerged that the united states had used a pakistani teen to gather intelligence on osama bin laden. the violence is depriving you the population of life-saving you health care. migrant workers from countries such as china help keep labor costs low but demands for better treatment is rising and singaporians are struggling to agree on a response. nhk world's mark ho has this report. >> reporter: 171 chinese bus drivers wept on strike last month. they were unhappy over a disparity in pay rise compared to other workers.

the walkout was the first in 26 years in singapore which has soviet rules against industrial action. >> translator: i hope the company will grant our request. if they don't, we will have to consider taking further steps. >> reporter: the government's response was swift and strong. 29 chinese strikers were deported. five leading members were arrested. one received a six-week prison sentence. the rare instance of labor and rest grabbed public attention. >> the whole thing that's happening with the chinese, it is kind of like, you know, freak thing that happened. >> reporter: singapore's 5.3 million residents, low-wage foreign workers account for one

in six people. workers from china have been favored for their low-wage demands. they also share cultural heritage with singaporian and chinese, who make up 76% of the population. the strike had repercussions. people took to the streets. the consulate was picketed to demand the release of drivers. media in singapore gave the issue daily coverage. one local television station aired a controversial debate. >> anything against the law i don't think we -- anyone should condone it. >> employers may wish to have workers who work all the time,

seven days a week, don't complain. >> reporter: the program surveyed 500 viewers. about 60% support the action of the chinese drivers. an academic who took part in the debate says singaporians need to reflect on how the society treats foreign workers. >> we have created more problems, more barriers, to proper integration. by bringing in a lot of chinese in extremely large numbers, we haven't really been making much effort to integrate the newcomers. >> reporter: my grant workers from china and elsewhere have helped support singapore's remarkable growth. as china gains economic might of its own, singapore needs to consider their demands for better treatment seriously in order to retain its position as a beacon of success. mark ho, nhk world, singapore. >> and that's going to wrap up

our bulletin for today. i'm patchari raksawong in bang cox. u.s. defense secretary says the united states will station f-35 stealth jets in five years. >> we are also enhancing our presence and capabilities in the region. that includes laying the groundwork for the first overseas deployment of the f-35 joint strike fighter in 2017. >> the f-35 is equipped with stealth capabilities to obscure it from radar. the plan is to check china's military growth. the united states also deploy the f-35 in okinawa. the defense ministry will

the defense ministry will the defense ministry will adopted f-35s as the next mainstream fighter jet. the u.s. congress will approve funding from the pacific to guam. this is part of realignment of u.s. forces in japan. the house and senate armed services committees held a conference on the national defense authorization act for fiscal 2013. the committees approved a budget of $26 million for the marine's transfer. the bill is likely to be enacted later this week through votes in the house and senate sessions. congress froze funding in the previous fiscal year, citing a lack of progress and relocating the futenma air station in okinawa. japanese and u.s. officials earlier this year agreed to proceed with the transfer separating it from the futenma relocation issue. the u.s. military plans to transfer 9,000 marines to guam, hawaii, australia, and elsewhere. researchers at a thinktank for japan's defense ministry are warning that the chinese navy may start getting active near

the disputed senkaku islands. japan controls the islands in the east china sea. china and taiwan claim the islands. the national institute for defense studies released a report on china's security policy, focusing on its recent military expansion at sea. the report says chinese people increasingly regard maritime disputes as infringement on the country's sovereignty and interests. it says the trend is making more difficult to implement cooperative diplomatic policy.i more difficult to implement cooperative diplomatic polic difficult to implement cooperative diplomatic policdif cooperative diplomatic polic di cooperative diplomatic policy. the report says cooperation, china's navy and maritime law enforcement agencies is likely to strengthen not only in the south china sea, but also in the east china sea. the vessels and patrol boats have been around the senkaku islands since september. japan's coast guard officials are asking for budget increases to pay for personnel and equipment.

they want to boost their presence in japanese waters. coast guard commandant takashi kitamura spoke about chinese government ships navigating around the senkaku islands and says the intrusions are likely to continue. >> translator: we haven't often requested additional patrol vessels for our fleet, but it's becoming necessary to add more ships and more personnel to staff them. >> he said the scope of the coast guard's mission has widened. he said the territorial rows are making more patrols a necessity. the territorial issue is just one of many of japan's incoming administration is facing. liberal democrats also need to lay out energy policy. they want to keep nuclear reactors running, despite opposition following the fukushima accident. it has raised questions that the ldp could have on regulators. we spoke to a top u.s. nuclear

regulator visiting japan to meet with authorities. >> reporter: william magwood serves as one of five nuclear regulatory commissioners. japanese government officials considered his organization an example when they built their new nuclear regulatory authority, or nra. >> and what we would like to do is give the new nra the benefit of the mistakes we've made. we've learned those lessons. we can pass on that experience, and any time -- >> reporter: one key lesson magwood wants to share with japanese officials is that politicians and nuclear regulation don't mix. >> independence of the regulatory agency is an essential key to assuring the right kinds of decisions are made, the right kind of safety processes put in place. in the united states, nrc is

designed to basically ignore entirely the political winds around it. if, for example, president obama had lost the election and governor romney had won, it would not have affected our work. >> reporter: nrc officials are reviewing the safety of u.s. nuclear facilities following the fukushima accident. magood says they have learned what happened there. one lesson involves filters. the absorb radioactive material when plants are vented. the fukushima plant didn't have them so more contamination was able to get out. >> we've asked the question in our country, should we install filters? this is a way of removing contamination from the exhaust after a nuclear accident. we don't require filters today. but we may change.

so, we're looking -- reviewing that. >> reporter: magwood also believes in focusing on education, which the u.s. did following the 1979 three mile island accident. fewer people in japan are choosing to study nuclear science. >> how do you convince students to go devote their lives to this field when it's not clear to what the future is? so, it's going to be a big challenge. in the u.s., we look at scholarships, fellowships, research to help build the core, perhaps the japanese government may have to think about similar things. >> reporter: right now, japanese government officials and nuclear regulators are thinking about the safety of facilities around the country. teams are checking some plants to make sure they aren't sitting on active faults. magwood says the nrc is

following this work closely and hopes to learn even more lessons in the future. nhk world, tokyo. it's cold and snowing in japan. meteorologist robert pet is ta is here with details. robert? >> across western japan, you are seeing the snowfall. good news, into tokyo, does look like it will be remaining detroit next several days. here towards hokkaido exhonshu, you have just been seeing the see effect snow machine push in from northwest to the southeast. in the past 24 hours, actually seen 50 cement meters of snow here. going into your thursday, you could see yet more heavy smoker the good news, see this high pressure here? that's going to start to work its way in from the west. what that's going to do is change the winds across this area, shut off the sea effect snows machine for the time bank. bring us colder temperatures, much of japan, north of tokyo, temperatures diving below the freezing marge.

this area in southeastern china light to moderate rainfall. that will start to work its way off toward the northeast. on saturday, much of japan will see rain. this will create all of the fresh snow across the area. a risk of an avalanche as rain starts to fall on top of snow. with it, it will also raising up temperatures and then as that low passes by, going into monday and tuesday for those of you that want a white christmas, at least across much of northern japan, it looks like the sea-affect snow machine will turn right back on. for thursday, though, beijing, minus 2 for the high. ulan bator, very chilly for you. 30s across thailand and philippines, seeing isolated afternoon pop-up thunderstorms as well, especially in evening hours as well. as we take a look into the americas, we have a low-pressure area starting to pull off toward

the northeast. this is going to be creating all sorts of messy travel weather conditions throughout the next several days across the next central plains to the western great lakes. this low, see the lines really close together just off toward the north? it's indicating some 80 kilometer per hour winds, kicking up heavy snowfall, adding up to 30 centimeters, the storm continues to march toward the east and then toward the south, you have warm air and moisture inflow coming in. erupting the rick of severe weather. fast-moving storms from the west toward the east here. throughout your day on your wednesday evening, even into thursday as well. and coming by very gusty winds and heavy rainfall. the good news, doesn't look like the storms will be severe enough for tornadoes. take a look at this area. a little bit out of place. indicating dry weather. over here, moisture out of the gulf of mexico. here, out of the desert. that's creating fire weather conditions. if you have flammable items, you want to be very careful with that. there into western texas, off

toward new mexico. watch the storm going into the weekend, though. the northeast, travel plans, especially coming up with the holidays there on monday and tuesday, going to be watch out. airport delays very well likely across much of the northeast. even southeastern canada here. as far as temperatures, winnipeg, a high of minus 12. denver, minus 4 for the high. warmup toward the south and east of oklahoma city. 18 in the mid part of your week. as we take a look over toward europe, the balkans, watching severe weather. reports of up to 65-kilometer-per-hour winds has been seen. now moving off toward turkey. gusty winds, heavy rain falling with frequent lightning as the system continues to move off toward the east. much of central europe, conditions remain rather mild. airport delays actual until berlin due to heavy fog continue here and don't we surprised going into paris and london you see airport delays as well due to the system.

look at all the areas in blue, indicating heavy rainfall. gusty winds coming out of this, likely reducing down air visibilities. in the west, temperatures mild. a pair of tens as we look toward the east, though, minus 16 in moscow for the high on thursday. here is a look at your extended forecast.

we will be back in 30 minutes with more news. i'm gene otani in tokyo.